1 A Beautifully Built Blown 355 Cubic Inch Ford T-Bucket |Muscle Car Journal f1

Monday, December 15, 2014

A Beautifully Built Blown 355 Cubic Inch Ford T-Bucket

The 1923 Ford T-Bucket featured in this article is one mean machine. The T-Bucket is a very modified Model T. In fact, it is so modified you may not recognize it as a Model T. You typically will not see an engine cowl on a T-Bucket and the radiator will be from a Model T . The windshield is typically vertical which resembles the same as on an original Model T.

1923 Ford T-Bucket
Ford stopped building their Model T's in 1927. Most of the T-Buckets you see today at auto shows and swap meets are fiberglass replicas. In fact, by the 1950's it was hard to find a suitable original steel body Model T to modify.

Attention Getting Street Rods

Many of the Ford T-Buckets you see today are essentially show cars and there are some functioning as street rods as well. There is no doubt that anywhere this 1923 T-Bucket goes it will receive plenty of attention. Each of these T-Buckets are highly customized so you'll see a great amount of creativity in the bucket interior, engine of course, and paint schemes.Just take a look at the beautiful chrome on this engine.

Look at the engines in some of them and you'll see that they aren't practical street vehicles. The engine in the T-Bucket shown in this article is a Blown 355 cubic inch V-8 with some heavy supercharging. The transmission on this car is a TH350 three speed automatic. In general, you'll see a Ford T-Bucket that looks like it's much too big for the size and weight of the body and chassis. Some may say that a blower/supercharger on your T-Bucket is great for racing and perhaps for burning tires. If that's not your goal then the supercharger may be unnecessary.

Blown 355 V-8
Hot Rod Model T's are Hot

Model T's have been customized and modified into street rods for a long time. For traditional hot rodders nothing gets the heart beating faster than cool early Ford projects.

The very first T-Bucket fiberglass bodies came on the market in 1957 for about $150 and the 1923 models were the first produced.

T-Bucket Kits, Plans and Resources

As of this writing, complete T-Bucket kits are offered by companies such as Speedway Motors, Detroit Speedcraft, Spirit Motors, and Corbin Rods. T-Bucket bodies are offered by TBucketPlans.com.

TBucketPlans.com offers a publication titled...How to Build a T-Bucket Hot Rod Roadster for Under $3,000. It's been called "The Most Compete Hot Rod How-To Ever Written". Also, How to Build a T-Bucket Roadster on a Budget written by Charles Greenhalgh.

Another interesting site regarding the building of a T-Bucket can be found at hotrod.com. Cut and paste the url http://www.hotrod.com/cars/project-vehicles/hrdp-1306-we-built-a-speedway-motors-tribute-t-bucket-kit/

See our Muscle Car Journal article on the 1937 Chevy master Deluxe Street Rod

See our AutoMuseumOnline article on the 1931 Morgan Aero Super Dry


Those interested in building a Ford T-Bucket might take a look at the National T-Bucket Alliance. This organization works to bring together individual hot rodders with a common interest. Included are forums, for sale items and tech pages, an NTBA Hall of Fame, newsletters and more.

All leadership positions at the organization are volunteer. The organization is a group of dedicated T-Bucket fanatics who prefer big engines, huge rear tires and lots of fancy paint and chrome. Check them out at www.nationaltbucketalliance.com

(Article and photos copyright Muscle Car Journal)